(Source: https://yandex.ru/collections/card/5d7e4c4715490655418b37c4)

The most popular destinations for city-breaks this year are St. Petersburg, Kazan and Kaliningrad, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) reports.

St. Petersburg is the leader among almost all tour operators as a destination for short trips across Russia in the 2020 season. Kazan and Kaliningrad are also in the top 3. In addition, Moscow, Karelia, and the cities of the Golden Ring are in demand.



Some routes are gaining popularity - these are the cities of the Volga region (Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Volgograd, Astrakhan), and central Russia (Tula, Tver). The demand for tours to the Moscow region and the cities of the northwest - Veliky Novgorod and Pskov is recovering. According to some tour operators, in the near future there will also be demand for directions where it is convenient and fast to get from the capital region: Kaluga, Ivanovo and Vladimir regions.



Tours for 3 days and 2 nights are in high demand. Traditionally, tourists leave on Thursday-Friday and return on Sunday. In summer, during the vacation period, both three-day arrivals from Friday to Sunday (about 40%) and weekly trips (60%) are popular. 

At the same time, most often tourists seek to limit the travel budget, so they book 1-2 excursions in advance, or generally buy them on the spot.



In general, market participants expect an increase in demand for short trips in September-October. Seasonality will play a role: in autumn, as a rule, interest in excursion and sanatorium-resort vacations increases.  Quarantine-free cities with good transport accessibility and tourist   facilities operating without restrictions will be in demand.

ATOR stressed that   the depth of bookings for short tours and excursion trips in Russia in general remains low: many people are no longer ready to plan a vacation in advance, several months in advance, as it was before.